


Tim Got a Haircut

by 1989Rad



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Superboy (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Bad words like Crud are used, Established Relationship, M/M, Robot alien werewolf ninjas, psychology 101 references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-12-30 11:12:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18314264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1989Rad/pseuds/1989Rad
Summary: Tim cut his hair. Kon uses what he has learned in psych 101 to determine how he feels about it.





	Tim Got a Haircut

**Author's Note:**

> Mixed continuity. Pre-new 52 mixed with Rebirth.

Kon had spent the first 30 minutes of the team meeting pissed. Ok, maybe not pissed, but peeved. No still not right. 

Bothered? Nah.  
Frustrated? Uh. Nooooo.  
Agh maybe just angry? Nope. 

Kon slouched in his chair. He was watching Tim explain the intel they received on some ninja robot whatever, whatever. 

Tim grinned and Bart laughed. Nuts, he missed a joke. He huffed a laugh and faked a grin. Tim looked skeptical. Stupid Bat could always tell when he was faking. 

Cassie elbowed him. Hard. Kon mumbled a sorry and false promise that he’ll pay attention. He wouldn’t. Tim stared him down before continuing.

Kon’s stomach did an ollie.

His psych 101 teacher, Dr. Harrison, once said how important it was to be able to properly identify the emotions you’re feeling. 

So, what the heck was he feeling?

Kon felt confused. Yeah, that’s for sure but like he was confused a lot of the time. Adolescence is confusing. Stagnant adolescence due to being a clone of an alien and a supervillain was extra confusing. 

Irritated? No. More like betrayed? Crud. No. Too dramatic. Tim didn’t betray him. He really didn’t do anything wrong. Kon got that. But like Kon still felt the lump in his stomach. 

A gross, big, dummy, dumb lump. It weighed him down and kept doing stupid dumb back flips when Tim grinned. 

Ok, maybe instead of trying to identify the emotion he was feeling, he should start at the source. The why behind the feeling of swallowed concrete in his belly. Kon lifted his gaze to the edge of Tim’s domino mask. 

Tim got a haircut. 

At some point between the fighting evil alien lobsters in Metropolis last weekend and today, Tim had gotten his hair cut. His long soft-looking, curled at the edges, often tied in a cute little ponytail hair, was just lobbed off. 

Years of growing it and Tim thought to himself, welp that’s enough of that, and he chopped it off. 

Did Tim cut it himself? Maybe Dick cut it? Could Dick even cut hair? Would Tim trust anyone else to cut his hair? Maybe Batman cut it? Did they use bat-scissors? Kon shuddered. Wait, no. Tim was rich. He totally got it cut by some like stylist who charged more for a haircut than Kon’s entire college fund. 

Everyone took a moment to compliment Tim on his haircut when he arrived. Cassie said it made Tim look younger. Bart said he forgot Tim ever wore his hair short. But Kon knew what they were getting at. What they had meant to say was they hadn’t seen Tim’s hair short since he kicked the bucket and came back to life. 

It was like a weird marker. 

Pre-death Tim had short spiky hair. Post-death Tim wore his hair like 2006 Peter Wenz for a little and then grew it out to more of a hipster-vibe length. 

But now this was post-death Tim with a pre-death Tim haircut. Kon pushed the lump in his stomach back down. 

It wasn’t that the haircut was bad. It was neat. Light fade and soft on the top. Fit Tim’s face well. 

But short-hair Tim and long-haired Tim were different, Kon resolved. Different parts of the guy he was totally in love with without ever having said the L word. 

Short-hair Tim was shy. Would take a while to show his lopsided smile to you. He skateboarded and listened to Enya and Green Day. Sometimes back to back. 

Long-hair Tim dazzled reporters. Would shut down and brood at a moments notice. He traveled the world to prove Bruce was alive and listened to bands like Rainbow Kitten Surprise. He also knew a lot of Cardi B lyrics which surprised and delighted Kon. 

The Tim he kissed was an adult. Long hair, controlled and stylized in a way that could only be described as elegant. Kon was sure that was the right word. 

True, Kon had also seen it destroyed and sweaty after his hands had run through it a few times. After Kon had made him gasp and whimper. Kon had gripped that hair and pulled. He tucked it behind Tim’s ears and played with it in the soft glow of a Sunday morning. 

Short-haired Tim didn’t kiss Kon. Only long-haired Tim did. Yeah, Kon’s nose scrunched. He was feeling anxious. 

That was the word. Tim’s haircut made him feel anxious. 

Cassie was talking now. Explaining something about the alien ninja robot whatever’s base. Kon tried to focus. Cassie’s hair was always changing. Young Cassie had short hair. Older Cassie had long hair. Super young Cassie even wore a black wig. All those Cassies kissed Kon. 

Maybe it would be fine. 

Kon snuck a glance at Tim, who was damn it!! Kon’s head snapped back toward the maps Cassie had laid out. Tim was staring at him. Watching his with that weird freaky bat-magic. The kinda weird freaky bat-magic that could read Kon’s mind. 

Kon suddenly remembered Cassie and Tim were very different. 

“Alright, we all understand the plan?” Cassie asked in Kon’s direction. Stop it! Stop pointing me out, Cassie! 

Tim and Bart nodded and Kon stuttered his own, “Yeah yeah, we got it Wondergirl”

Cassie’s face scrunched. Bart blurted something before she could respond, “We got it! And if we don’t we can go over it tomorrow! Let’s go, Cassie! You promised we could practice the new toss and run maneuver.”

Kon pursed his lips. The maneuver wasn’t exactly new. Cassie would throw Bart as far as she could, Bart would land on either his butt or his head (sometimes feet) and run back. Kon also really didn’t get how it could be helpful but didn’t press. Anything to end the meeting.

“Yeah fine,” Cassie responded and Bart was out the door. “But you better get your head out of the clouds before tomorrow Kon!” She pointed at him for dramatic effect and Kon resisted the urge to swat at her hand. 

“I promise, O fearless leader,” he sung instead. Cassie rolled her eyes. 

“I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I,” Kon refuted, but he honestly wasn’t sure. Cassie’s eyes narrowed, glanced at probably Tim with a ‘fix this’ secret message and walked out of the meeting room. 

Kon let his mind stay blank for a moment. A welcomed pause. He almost forgot about the terrible bad stupid lump in his stomach when he heard Tim cough. 

Kon looked back at his boyfriend. 

Tim’s short hair made him look boyish. He was smirking in a way that only teenage boys with too much time and too little supervision could. Kon knew cause he was that teenage boy. Tim was too, but like in a really different way cause Kon was a celebrity in Hawaii with a bunch of beach babes and Tim used his lack of supervision to sneak out and fight crime. Nerd. 

There was something about Tim’s haircut that was so all-American.

Kon frowned and congratulated himself on finding the right word. He made his mouth feel weird. Tim’s lips twisted, “Alright, what’s up with you?”

Yeah, Kon thought to himself, Tim looked like an all-American guy who had strong opinions on baseball and really enjoyed an IPA but Kon couldn’t say that. 

He also knew Tim didn’t like IPAs. 

“Nothing.”

Tim reached up and opened the white lenses on his mask. “Conner,” he started, “you’ve been a space case all day.”

Kon looked at the clock. “It’s only 11 am. You can’t say it’s been all day.”

“I can. All morning, aka the entire day thus far, you’ve been a space case.”

“But that could change.”

“Then change it,” Tim huffed and Kon tried not to stare at Tim’s eyes. He missed them this week. “Tell me what’s up.”

Kon thought back to his psych 101 class. 

Ok, he identified the emotion - Anxiety. He also identified the cause - Tim’s stupid haircut. Now, what was the next step? 

Kon bit the inside of his cheek and realized he didn’t do the last homework assignment on the account of robot ninja space alien werewolves or whatever so he has no idea what the next step toward _understanding one’s emotions better_ is. 

Kon looked at Tim’s eyes. They looked worried. He let go of the breath he was holding and accidentally blew all the secret werewolf space alien ninja robot cowboy papers to the floor.

Tim didn’t try to catch them. 

“You got a haircut,” Kon said. Tim’s face didn’t move but Kon still felt stupid. Not cause of Tim. Cause it kinda was stupid. “Like it’s nice. It looks good or whatever. I’m just like, I don’t know,” the words trailed off as the last of the papers floated to the floor.

“You,” Tim questioned, “don’t like that I got a haircut?” Tim was speaking really slow. Stupidly slow.

“It sounds dumb.”

“Kinda.”

“It’s not like I want to be consulted when you cut your hair cause that’s like crazy possessive and unhealthy-”

“Did you learn that in your psych class?”

“No that’s just common sense,” Kon answered a bit more pissy than he wanted. Tim was joking with him. Maybe. “But like seeing you with short hair, it just like made me think back to when we first formed Young Justice.”

Tim had a soft lopsided grin was tugging at his mouth now. The kind of smile Kon really liked. “I think I use a lot less hair gel now.”

Kon grinned, “Yeah you probably could’ve cut kryptonite with that hair.” Tim laughed and scooted his chair closer so he could press his arm against Kon’s.

Kon liked that short-hair Tim’s bare arm still felt like long-hair Tim’s. He pushed back. Tim leaned in, “Does it bother you?” 

“That you cut your hair? No, I don’t think that’s the root cause of my anxiety. I might be scapegoating.” 

“Now that sounds like something you learned in psych class.”

“Yeah,” Kon turned to face Tim. “Dr. Harrison taught me that.” Tim watched as Kon inspected his hair. “I think it just makes me nervous that we’ll fade back to that time. That we’ll just stop dating and become friends again.”

“I think I can safely say that cutting my hair didn’t change how I feel about you. I also had a crush on you when my hair was short.” Kon felt the lump his stomach hop into his throat. 

“Lame,” Kon teased and Tim punched his arm. Kon lifted a hand to one of Tim’s spiky hairs. He ran his hand through the short strands and Tim sighed. “Ya know why I am taking psych?”

“Because you forgot to sign up for classes and it was the only class still open.” 

“No,” Kon pulled at one of Tim’s spiky hairs. Tim swatted his hand away. “It was for you.”

“For me?”

“For us. I thought it might help our relationship if I learned more about healthy relationships and coping mechanisms for first and second-hand traumas.” 

Tim studied him for a long time after that. The lump twisted in Kon’s throat. He swallowed but that seemed to make it angry. It bobbed up to the back of his mouth. 

Kon held his breath as Tim kissed him. Soft. Almost like a whisper. Tim’s mouth quivered against Kon’s. Instinctively Kon closed his eyes and pressed into the kiss. Careful not to deepen it too much. Tim reached up to cup his chin. He held their faces apart and Kon let him. 

“I love you,” Tim said against his mouth. “I love you Conner Kent.” 

Tim kissed him before he could respond. The lump flopped out of his throat and left in a needy sob. Tim smiled into the kiss. 

Short-hair Tim, Kon realized, not only kissed Kon but loved him. Maybe long-hair Tim did too. He wasn’t sure. 

Probably every Tim loved Conner. Just like how every Conner loved Tim. Angry clone Kon. Sassy earring wearing Superboy. Happy farmer Conner. They all loved Tim, very much.

Tim pulled back from the kiss and Kon was about to tell Tim how much he loved him when a large explosion was heard down the hall.

“Guys,” Bart screamed, “the vampire pirates are here! Wondergirl, throw me!”

Wow, Kon thought as he rushed toward Bart. He really wasn’t paying attention to the mission brief. 

Maybe psych 101 would also teach him how to improve his active listening.

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t think they teach you this stuff in psych 101 but like suspend your disbelief? Dr. Harrison has a really unique curriculum.
> 
> If you ever notice a glaring issue in grammar etc, feel free to email me at Rad1989A@gmail.com, if you feel weird about commenting the correction. Always happy for feedback.


End file.
